<p>I’m Gatech class of 2013, currently studying in M.Eng program at UC Berkeley (mechanical engineering.)
It’s hard getting into grad schools. You want to have minimum of 3.5/4.0 GPA (assuming you want to do research.)
To get into MIT grad school, you’d probably need around 3.7~3.8/4.0 GPA. It’s hard to pull off, but it’s definitely possible as long as you study and take a few humanities (“easy”) courses.</p>
<p>I’ll give you a valuable advice, something I wish I’ve known back in 2010. When you apply to grad school, they don’t care where you come from. Just because you go to MIT as undergrad doesn’t mean you’d get into their grad school. What you need are good grades and CONNECTION.
I’m not sure if you want to go MS or PhD. But It’s easier to get into PhD programs because then professors have enough time to teach you stuff and get some work out of you. With MS, it’s pretty hard to get into unless the professor has some short-term project for you or you know the professor really well.
Looks like there are two things you need to consider. Money and connections. As for the money, you don’t need to worry about tuition if you’re going to go PhD. Most doctorate students have their tuition waived working as RA or TA, and I think you earn enough money to make a living (“surviving”) as well. So basically, don’t worry about saving up enough money for grad school. As for the connection, it would definitely be advantageous for you to be near MIT professors and leave a good impression as a student (or do an undergrad research for them). However, just because you’re at Georgia Tech doesn’t mean you can’t build a relationship with MIT professors. As long as you have good grades and relevant interests/experience, they’d take you in. All you need to do is build that connection (email, phone call) before you apply to the school and have the professor “sponsor” you. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! Don’t just blindly apply. Know what professor you want to work for and contact them before you apply! You may not have good grades, but if the professor’s willing to take you in and give you a position in his/her lab, you have MUCH (and I mean VERY MUCH) higher chance of getting accepted.</p>
<p>I’ll wrap it up. MIT or Georgia Tech, it doesn’t really matter. At Georgia Tech, you can save a lot of money. At MIT, you have better chance of building that connection. But in my personal opinion, it’s better to save your money. Go to Georgia Tech, gain a lot of experience. Do some undergrad research, join a formula club, do stuff (INTERSHIP, CO-OP!!!) Once you know where you want to go with your career and what kind of research you want to do, look at what the professors at Georgia Tech, MIT, and other schools are doing. It’s very possible that professors are not doing what you want to do at MIT, but a very prestigious professor at Georgia Tech (or other school) is doing exactly what you want to do. You want to go to MIT now, but why? Because it’s prestigious? Don’t do that. Know what you want to do with your life, think about your career. Yes, getting a degree from a prestigious institution is pretty important, but it’s also very important that your experiences match with what you want to do with the rest of your life.</p>
<p>As for me, I’m in M.Eng program. It’s a one year masters program, focusing on real world problem solving, projects, leadership, and entrepreneurship instead of research. I chose this program because it’s short, it teaches what I want to learn, and I intend to jump into the industry ASAP. Also I decided that getting a PhD (focusing on one VERY specific field of engineering) isn’t going to help my career very much. I’ve been hunting for a job for some time now, and I see that I was right. Getting a PhD is good if you want to continue doing research, but if you want to build stuff and design stuff, master’s degree is more than adequate (PhD would only “over-qualify” you.)</p>
<p>Contact me at <a href=“mailto:wchoi41@berkeley.edu”>wchoi41@berkeley.edu</a> if you have any questions.</p>